BSY axes ex-loyalist Gowda, Jagadish Shettar named K'taka CM

Bangalore, Jul 8: Bharatiya Janata Party (

) President Nitin Gadkari on Sunday, Jul 8 declared that

will be the new Chief Minister of Karnataka. Gadkari also confirmed the news that

put down his papers and BJP decided to accept his resignation.

Senior BJP leaders - Arun Jaitley and Rajnath Singh will visit Bangalore and will submit their reports to the governor HR Bhardwaj on Monday. Shettar is expected to take oath as the CM of the state on Jul 11 ahead of the state assembly session which will start on Jul 16.

The former CM BS Yeddyurappa, who was grilled by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Saturday over alleged corruption cases against him, must be relieved after the recent change of power in Karnataka politics.

Gadkari claimed that the party's decision to remove Gowda as Karnataka CM was taken to strengthen the party's position in the state. However, it was an open secret that the party was forced to take the extreme step facing the adamant campaigning and threats from team Yeddyurappa who sought Gowda's ouster.

Gowda took over power from Yeddyurappa in Aug 2011 when the latter was forced to resign as the CM and was sent to jail. Initially Gowda was an well-known Yeddyurappa loyalist but soon cracks were seen in their relationship.

Meanwhile, power politics took a surprising turn in Karnataka. Yeddyurappa earlier had rejected to support Shettar as his arch rival Ananth Kumar was supporting him (Shettar). But following the rifts between him and Gowda, Yeddyurappa started campaigning for Shettar who is also a Lingayat leader.

Despite their decision of accepting Gowda's resignation, Nitin Gadkari praised the former CM. "Sadananda Gowda has done a good job as Chief Minister for 11 months. There is no complaint against his work. Arun Jaitley and Rajnath Singh will be going to Bangalore tomorrow. There would be a state legislatures meet." stated Gadkari.

According to sources, Gowda may become the state party president while KS Eshwrappa likely to become the deputy chief minister of Karnataka. Announcements regarding the same are expected to be declared by Monday evening.

OneIndia News